I've been under the weather the last couple of weeks... with a good case of Bad Taste.
My previous post shows the fabrics I had chosen for a Lady of the Lakes quilt that I planned to make as a birthday gift for a friend's mother -- a sweet women of Irish decent with a love for all things green. I finished half of the 18 blocks and realized the greens just weren't working well together at all.
I decided to put LOTL on the back burner and finish it for myself sometime this spring. Though I think I'll pick just one green fabric and mix up the lights. My favorite green is this cheerful Moda Marbled Swirl fabric. My camera is exposure is off -- the fabrics look much richer than this.
I still wanted to make a birthday quilt that I needed to have finished by April 2. But now I needed a new pattern and fabric and that all-important inspiration, so I drove an hour out of town to a quaint little quilt store in the heart of Oregon's wine country. The shop is adorable and has a nice selection of fabrics, patterns, and kits. In fact, everything is so cute and quaint that if you don't have a good idea of what you're looking for, you can easily lose your critical eye mind and think you're making good choices... when you're not! I picked out a new pattern and the shop owner's daughter helped me choose fabrics.
These fabrics looked entirely different together on the bolt. We tried to pick up the olivey green and rust in the Spice Market floral that I used in the center of the block and had planned to use as the border fabric.
Ugh.
I foolishly kept making blocks, thinking I might be able to pull it out of this tailspin...
My camera doesn't capture the melted-Creamsicle glow of the lightest fabric with the jarring orangey-rust and olive green. And look at the gigantic scale of that floral print next to the other fabrics! What was I thinking?

Two failures and I still didn't have a birthday quilt. I was beyond discouraged and beginning to think I had no business quilting. But I can be stubborn, so like the rider who falls off her horse, I got back up in the saddle for one more try. Yesterday afternoon I found a sweet, simple pattern in a book I borrowed from the library (Simple Comforts by Kim Diehl), headed to my favorite (local) quilt store, and picked out new fabrics. I finished one block last night, and I'm very happy with it. More importantly, I think the recipient is going to like it, too! It will be a lap-size quilt, so if I can finish it in the next week and get to the quilter for an overall pattern, I should have it back in time for the birthday.